Developments in Hosted Payloads

Global Military Communications Magazine

EGNOS payload, to be hosted on the EUTELSAT 5 West B satellite. Photo courtesy of European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) Developments in hosted payloads Hosted payloads are an attractive way of gaining access applications, there are fewer concerns for key non-defence to space at reduced cost, and within a reduced timeframe. projects. In March 2017, the European Global Navigation Satellite The benefits are many, but several government agencies Systems Agency (GSA) selected Eutelsat Communications to are hesitant in their use due to security concerns. The develop, integrate and operate its next-generation EGNOS overall hosted payload market is a growing one however; payload, to be hosted on the EUTELSAT 5 West B satellite, that here, we take a look at notable recent developments. is due for launch end of this year. The new payload marks a replenishment of current EGNOS capacity and is expected to start service in 2019 for a duration of 15 years. Airbus Defence Launching satellites is an expensive business. From design, and Space is building the satellite’s commercial Ku-band payload manufacturing, insurance, launch and operation, the costs can and the EGNOS payload, while the platform is being run into the hundreds of millions, depending on the parameters. manufactured by Orbital ATK. And that’s if everything goes smoothly – the years of planning EGNOS is a European Geostationary Navigation Overlay and design can be further lengthened by launch delays, which Service that acts as an augmentation service to Global can be costly and extremely inconvenient. Positioning Systems (GPS) to improve the accuracy and Hosted payloads offer an extremely cost-effective solution, reliability of positioning information. EGNOS also provides a ideal for small start-ups or government agencies. The hosted crucial integrity message regarding the continuity and availability payload model allows a communications module to be attached of a signal which is essential in aviation where GNSS alone to a (usually) commercial satellite, which shares the satellite’s does not satisfy operational requirements set by the International power supply and transponders, but operates independently. Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for use in critical flight stages, With a hosted payload, entities gain access to in-orbit such as final approaches. With the addition of EGNOS, which capabilities without having to pay the entire cost of building and has been certified for civil aviation since 2011, systems such launching a satellite. Other benefits of the hosted payload model as GPS and Galileo can satisfy ICAO standards. include reduced time to orbit. The EGNOS GEO-3 payload on EUTELSAT 5 West B will So, what can you achieve with a hosted payload? The same comprise two L-band transponders that will act as an as many other satellites – Space Situational Awareness (SAA), augmentation, or overlay, to GNSS messages. Data from GNSS data collection, Earth observation, communications, R&D, etc. measurements received by an interconnected ground network The possibilities are endless, making the hosted payload model of positioning stations across Europe will be transferred to a highly attractive for many. With budgets constrained in many central computing centre, where differential corrections and government agencies right now, hosted payloads are expected integrity messages will be calculated and then broadcast by to grow in the coming years, however, some defence sectors EUTELSAT 5 West B to users. The new payload will be the first are still uneasy over their use, given that they don’t control the step towards the deployment of the EGNOS next generation, entire satellite. EGNOS V3. This new generation of EGNOS will augment both Galileo and GPS, and is planned to be qualified by 2022. EGNOS Eutelsat to host next-generation EGNOS payload V3 will provide a higher level of performance and robustness While some government agencies remain uncertain over the than the current EGNOS legacy services, as required by the security of hosted payloads, particularly when it comes to military growing use and reliance on such services.

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has placed its faith in hosting some of its payloads onboard commercial satellites for the last two decades, making significant cost and time savings. January 2018 saw SES-15 begin operations at the 129 degrees West orbital position, providing services over North America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The all- electric satellite, which took six months to reach its orbital position and complete testing, carries a hybrid payload of Ku- band wide beams and Ku-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capabilities with connectivity to gateways in Ka-band. In addition to providing key inflight connectivity and entertainment services, SES-15 also carries a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) hosted payload, which will enable the FAA to augment existing GPS with the goal of improving accuracy, integrity and availability of the system for the aviation industry. The 14-year contract for the hosted payload was awarded by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, and includes 11 years of on-orbit operations with options to extend on an annual basis. At the time of the contract award, President and CEO of SES Government Services, Pete Hoene, stated: “We are honoured to have been chosen by Raytheon and the FAA to host this payload on our satellite. This is a great example of how the United Launch Alliance launches SBIRS GEO-4 early commercial satellite industry can provide the US Government warning satellite timely and affordable access to space.” The FAA’s WAAS is a highly-accurate navigation system SSL to demonstrate hosted payload security for US Air developed from 1994 for civil aviation. It provides horizontal and Force vertical navigation for approach operations for all users at all The role of hosted payloads has been on the rise in recent years locations. It covers almost all the National Airspace System as demand for space-based communications increases faster (NAS), providing augmentation information to GPS receivers to than actual capabilities. However, as previously highlighted, enhance the accuracy and reliability of position estimates. hosted payloads have not been widely accepted by government Signals from GPS satellites are received across the NAS at agencies because they are uncertain about the levels of security widely-spaced Wide Area Reference Stations (WRS) and available. forwarded to the WAAS Master Station (WMS) via a terrestrial Innoflight, Inc., a veteran-owned business specializing in communications network. There, the WAAS augmentation electronics systems for defence and aerospace, plans to alleviate those fears. In September 2017, SSL announced that it had been selected by Innoflight to provide a high-fidelity simulation environment for testing the security of hosted payloads on commercial satellites. The capability, which is being developed for the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) as part of its Secure IP Payload Accommodation Demonstration Project, will enable SMC to demonstrate cybersecure payload hosting scenarios, concepts of operation, and cybersecurity controls. It will also demonstrate advanced, secure Internet protocol connections between a government payload operations centre and the hosted payload using the existing satellite operator’s networking infrastructure, eliminating the high cost of specialised space- based communication systems. “SSL has significant experience integrating hosted payloads into our leading commercial spacecraft platform, the SSL 1300,” said Richard White, President of SSL Government Systems. “Our commercial experience positions us well to provide the precise test environment that Innoflight requires to demonstrate how its secure interface solution will ensure cybersecurity for US government missions. This work will become an integral part of SSL’s secure interface for hosted payloads and will make the benefits of the hosted payload model more readily accessible to both government and commercial customers.” The hosted payload interface is expected to play a key role in enabling resilient, next-generation space architectures. “A key factor in our selection of SSL to work with us in support of SMC was the company’s leadership in commercial satellite design,” said Jeffrey Janicik, President of Innoflight. “Our test environment will benefit from SSL’s global reach and high-level experience with hosted payloads and secure communications.”

SES-15 begins operations for WAAS hosted payload Despite longstanding uncertainty surrounding the hosted payload model, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) SES 15 launch. Photo courtesy of Arianespace

www.globalmilitarycommunications.com | June/July 2018 17 Global Military Communications Magazine messages are generated; these contain information that allow Principal Investigator for the project. The GOLD instrument was GPS receivers to remove signal errors, vastly increasing built and will be operated by the University of Colorado Boulder accuracy and reliability. The messages are sent form the WMS Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. SES and its to uplink stations, where they are transmitted to navigation fully-owned subsidiary SES Government Solutions, meanwhile, payloads on satellites. are providing the host satellite, mission operations, and science Those satellites broadcast the messages on a GPS-like data transport. signal, and the GPS/WAAS receiver processes the message as part of estimating position. WAAS also provides indications Detecting missile launches with hosted payloads to GPS/WAAS receivers of where the GPS system is unusable With global tensions on the rise, early warning systems of due to system errors or other effects. It’s an essential system in impending attacks have become more important than ever. today’s world. Accuracy is key, as we’ve learned from the recent false ballistic missile alert issued by the Emergency Alert System in Hawaii, NASA sees GOLD hosted payload launch which caused large-scale panic and chaos. Accordingly, satellite In the same month as the SES-15 satellite with its FAA hosted systems have long been utilised to provide timely, accurate data, payload coming online, January 2018 saw the successful launch and there’s definitely a place for hosted payloads within these of SES-14, which will provide coverage of the Americas, Atlantic systems. Ocean, Western Europe and Northwest Africa with HTS In January 2018, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket services, and Ku and C-band wide beam services. NASA’s took flight, transporting the SBIRS GEO-4, an early warning Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) hosted missile satellite, into orbit. SBIRS GEO-4 is the fourth payload also has a place onboard SES-14. geostationary satellite in the Space Based Infrared System “Using a host satellite makes access to space quicker and (SBIRS), a constellation of satellites that use infrared sensors more cost efficient, while meeting the increasingly more to detect and track missile launches. The SBIRS GEO-4 satellite sophisticated needs governments have nowadays. SES has carries two infrared sensors: A scanning sensor which watches extensive experience in hosted payload projects and is well- the full disc of the Earth for infrared events, and a ‘staring’ sensor suited to meet these needs,” said Pete Hoene, President and to detect smaller short-range missiles which do not produce as CEO of SES Government Solutions. “We are very excited about much infrared radiation. hosting GOLD and looking forward to it starting its important In addition to its geostationary satellites, SBIRS also uses mission in space.” four hosted payload sensors mounted onboard satellites in highly NASA’s GOLD hosted payload features an ultraviolet elliptical orbit (HEO), including the National Reconnaissance imaging spectrograph to measure densities and temperatures Office’s Trumpet-class signals intelligence satellites. These in the Earth’s thermosphere and ionosphere in response to Sun- SBIRS-HEO sensors provide additional observations of Earth’s Earth interaction. It aims to revolutionise scientists’ polar regions, which are less visible from geostationary orbit. understanding of this part of the space environment and its SBIRS is designed to provide the USA with advance warning impacts on low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite drag, and ionospheric of an enemy nuclear strike, while also allowing the country to disruptions of communication and navigation transmissions. monitor other missile and rocket launches around the world. As GOLD will take unprecedented images of the temperature and well as detecting missile launches, SBIRS is also used for composition changes over a hemisphere. intelligence-gathering, helping to identify and characterise GOLD is a result of collaboration among several world- events that result in the emission of infrared radiation and to leading entities. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is improve general battlefield awareness. Two further geostationary providing overall NASA program management, while the satellites, GEO-5 and GEO-6, were ordered in 2012 for launch University of Central Florida’s Florida Space Institute is the in the next decade. GMC

Photo courtesy of Thales

18 www.globalmilitarycommunications.com | June/July 2018 Global Military Communications Magazine